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Malak (Kara)
Born to the nomadic Tiefling tribe, The Cerulean Stalkers, Malak was always an oddity. Born of the union between a Tiefling and a mysterious Fey being, she has always been different. Rather than having the rich blue skin tone that is the defining characteristic of her tribe, her skin, while still blue, was so pale as to be nearly white. She was shunned by her elders and avoided by her peers. Living the life of an outcast she was forced to fend for herself. Things changed when she reached the age of 16. By this point her fellows all had the large horns and long tails indicative of their race, but not Malak. Malak possessed mere nubs upon her brow and a tail so short as to be non-existent. As these differences became more and more apparent dislike turned to distrust, and distrust turned to outright hatred. At the same time, strange occurrences started happening around her in times of stress. For the most part Malak was able to hide these events or explain them away, but things were getting worse and worse. The final straw was when she destroyed the dining tent in a massive inferno, killing three others but emerging unscathed. It was at this point the tribal elder offered her a choice: death, or life in exile. Choosing exile, Malak was given one night to collect her things and prepare for her departure. While sleeping her final night in her tent, she was awoken by the sounds of many people approaching. Upon looking through the flap she saw a large group of people approaching her tent, led by the son of one of the men she had killed. Upon reaching her tent they demanded she present herself for justice. Not knowing what else to do, Malak hid in her tent as they charged, but to her confusion they completely ignored her, calling out that she must have snuck out early before they could get to her. Malak rushed to the tent flap to make sure they had all left, assuming that is was just a lucky freak occurrence. Upon turning back to collect her things and leave for real, she came face to face with a strange man. He was a great man, nearly eight feet tall, with a large rack of antlers extending even farther. Clad only in leaves and vines, he was as pale as the moon on a clear night. "Tonight, you are under my aegis. Do not rely on this protection in the future. Your bags are packed. In your food pouch you will find berries, each one will feed and water you for a day. Do not squander them. Now flee, they are following an image conjured by my power, but it will not last forever." And with those ominous words he disappeared. Not one to waste an opportunity Malak immediately fled, running through the night she found refuge in the tall grass that grew on the plains, and with it restless sleep. Over the next few weeks, Malak walked. Across the plains, along rivers, through forests, until she eventually came upon a road. Not knowing where she was and running low on food, Malak followed the road in hopes of finding civilization. Two days later food ran out. With water from a nearby river dehydration was not a concern, but with no way to find or kill food, Malak started to weaken. Eventually, after a week without food beyond chewing on leaves out of desperation and a need to fill the gaping maw in her gut Malak collapsed. The last thing she heard as the world darkened around her was the leaves rustling in the wind, and...singing? When next she awoke, Malak was greeted by a wooden roof above her head and a gentle rocking of the entire building. She tried to stand, but between her weakness and the rocking of the room she fell, letting out a cry. As if this was a trigger, the room stopped rocking and the door opened. In bustled a large woman, fussing about the poor girl, abandoned on the road and left for dead. The words feeling strange upon her tongue after spending so long alone, Malak was only able to utter a single word "Where-" before devolving into coughs, unable to speak. Upon hearing this the woman lowered her back into her bed. "Hush now dearie, you are still recovering. We found you along the side of the road, nothing but skin and bones. Can't leave anyone to that fate. My name is Rin, and I'm going to be taking care of you for a while" As she spoke she started to feed Malak from a bowl of broth she had brought into the room when it stopped moving. As she spooned broth into her mouth the woman spoke of who she was and what was happening. "Once we picked you up, you slept for three days, we weren't sure you were even going to wake up. We are a trade caravan heading back to Nevan after making our rounds of the small villages. We still have a week to travel but I'm afraid once we get to the city we can't keep taking care of you for free. If you want to stay you need to show a skill or talent to prove your worth to our caravan. Lacking that we can point you towards simple labor available to anyone with a strong back. But don't worry about that now, for now just rest and focus on recovering." The next few days passed in a blur of sleeping and drinking broth until Malak was finally able to support herself and leave the bed she had been laying in for over a week. On shaky feet, she made her way to the door and opened it, seeing the road pass underneath her carriage, before returning to her bed to wait for the next stop. Upon stopping for the midday meal, Malak left her room and walked on stable ground for the first time in over a week. She spent the last few days of the trip sitting in a wagon, talking to Rin and learning about the world she had been thrust into. Upon arriving at the city of Nevan she gathered what remained of her things and prepared to leave, but before she could she was stopped by Rin. "I'm sorry to see you go, but I have one last piece of advice for you, call it a parting gift. People here are not all as trusting of Tieflings. With skin as pale as yours, and such small horns you can pass for human if you are careful. Nobody here knows who you are, take this as a time to change and become what people expect to see if you want to survive." And with that she left. The City of Nevar was a hard place. Homeless lining the streets of the ghettos, and being beaten if they tried to go into more well off neighborhoods. Following the instructions from Rin, Malak found her way to a man hiring laborers at the supply yard. As much as she tried to keep up with the other laborers, Malak was still weak from her ordeals and was quickly replaced, leaving her with no job, no friends and no hope. Living on the streets was dangerous and every sound could be someone sneaking up on you to steal your hidden stash. Eventually, Malak turned to thievery. She tried pick pocketing, but after several beatings at the hands of the guards she decided against pursuing the particular skill and stuck instead to petty theft, stealing food from carts and burgling from houses left empty or unlocked. While she was not very good at the thieving, she had a knack for escaping without punishment as inexplicable things would happen whenever she was caught, allowing her to escape. One day, she awoke to see two figures looming in deep forest green cloaks, feature hidden in shadows. "You have potential, follow or die" And with that they left, bounding up the side of a building as if gravity had no effect on them. Having heard stories of the mysterious Hooded Hunters who controlled the criminal underground Malak immediately jumped up from her pile of decaying cloth and scrambled up the wall after the figures. Upon reaching the top of the building she looked to see the Hunters already jumping two rooftops away and continuing their rapid dash across the city skyline. When Malak started to fall too far behind one of the pair would turn and fire a bolt from their crossbow, forcing Malak to dodge or die. After this they would let her catch up a little bit before streaking off again. This continued for hours until Malak was too weak to follow. Upon seeing her trail too far behind, the Hunter fired a shot directly at Malak's head. With one last scream of determination Malak hurled herself to the side, only to find herself suddenly crashing into the Hunter, who had moments ago been three rooftops away. Unable to do anything but lie still Malak began to beg for mercy, unable to comprehend what had just happened. No sooner had the words left her mouth than the other Hunter spoke for the first time. "It is as we suspected, bring her." And with that, everything faded to darkness. Once again, Malak awoke in an unfamiliar location, greeted by hard stares and hooded cloaks. "We have been watching you, and we believed you had a special gift. Today's test proved that, or at least proved you have the capacity. You are now a member of the Hooded Hunters. You will train to hone this skill, and, once you have control of it you will employ it in our service." And with all but one Hunter left the small room. The one who remained lowered their hood, revealing a slight woman with small horns and shockingly red skin. "You will address me as Hope, I am here to train you in your skills. For tonight, eat and sleep. Before we can dive deep you must regain your strength, and then the real work will begin." The next two years were a blur of meditation and introspection while Malak strove to discover the hidden power within her and, once found, struggled to make it obey her. By the end of her third year with the Hooded Hunters she was told that her control was developed enough to begin taking jobs, allowing her to take on the Hood and become one of them. After nearly compromising a very important job, she was removed from active service and began training in the art of distraction and information gathering. While she lacked any ability to effectively steal or burgle without getting caught, she was able to talk her way out of any situation she found herself in. As such she became a Face. The Faces were an elite subsection of the Hooded Hunters, known as the only ones to operate without the Hood that is their namesake. The faces were masters of disguise, able to become anyone with remarkable speed. This paired with their persuasive abilities made them the mouthpiece of the Hunters, as well as the spymasters and informants to many in the city, but always owing allegiance to the Hunters above all. After many long years of struggle, Malak finally found a home where she was not only accepted, but cared for. Malak awoke to the smell of smoke. A fire in the underbelly was everyone's problem as it would spread with terrifying speed. grabbing her clothes she ran towards the source, only slowing when she heard screams and the sounds of flesh being beaten. Crouching to avoid the smoke Malak peered around the corner to see that it wasn't just a fire, but a raid. Somehow the lawmen had been alerted to the location of the Hunters Den. Upon realizing that this was a calculated attack, Malak fled finding as many of her compatriots as she could and urging them to flee. As a final act, she summoned as much power as she could and willed herself to recreate the inferno that caused her to be cast out of her first home. Unleashing the power stored within her, a massive explosion rocked the earth around her, collapsing the end of the escape tunnel and sealing the Lawmen in with the smoke and flames. Following procedure, she spent several days traveling along the road to a nearby village, the designated rendezvous point. All told, only 15 people had survived the raid and made it to the meeting point, including the Huntmaster, leader of the Hooded Hunters. Without a home, money or people, it was decided that the Hooded Hunters were to be disbanded until the Huntmaster was able to collect enough new members to re-found the gang. Every member went their own way, with plans to meet in the same tavern in five years time. Leaving behind the only true home she had ever known, Malak took on the identity of Kara, a human merchant who sold cures for whatever might ail you. Traveling from town to town, taking care never to go to the same place twice, she swindled the rich and spent her money living the high life. Occasionally she would step in to solve problems, further developing her abilities, this time for the purpose of warfare where originally it was purely for subterfuge. This continued for approximately two years before she met an unlikely group of individuals during a bar fight, and with that our adventure begins.